The Abandoned Room eBook

after a time the pallid frames of the windows, the
pillow on the bed, and the wall above it. He
fancied the dark stain, the depression in the mattress
where the two bodies had rested. Those physical
objects forced on him the probability of his guilt.
Then he recalled that both men, dead for many hours,
had moved apparently of their own volition; and his
grandfather had come back from the grave and then
had disappeared, leaving no trace; and he comforted
himself with the thought that the explanation, if it
came at all, must arise from a force outside himself,
whether of the living or the dead.

Because of that very assurance his fear of the room
was incited. Could any subtle change overcome
him here as it evidently had the others? Could
there be repeated in his case a return and a disappearance
like his grandfather’s? There was, as Rawlins
had said, no way in or out for an attack. Therefore
the danger must emerge from the dead, and he was helpless
before their incomprehensible campaign.

The whole illogical, abominable course of events warned
him to bring his vigil to an end before it should
be too late; urged him to escape from the restless
revolt of the dead who had dwelt in this room.
And he wanted to respond. He wanted to go to
the corridor and confess to Rawlins and Robinson that
he was beaten. Yet he had begged so hard for this
chance! That course, moreover, meant the arrest
of Katherine and himself in the morning. For
a few hours he could suffer here for her sake.
Daylight, if he could persist until then, would bring
release, and surely it couldn’t be long now.

He shrank back. Steadily it had grown colder
in the old room. He shivered. He drew his
coat closer about him. What temerity to invade
the domain of death, as Paredes had called it, to
seek the secrets of unquiet souls!

He ceased shivering. He waited, tensely quiet.
Without calculation he realized that the moment for
which he had hoped was at hand. The old room
was about to disclose its secret, but would it permit
him to depart with his knowledge? He forgot to
call. He waited, helpless and terrified, against
the wall. He heard a moaning cry, faint and distant—­the
voice they had heard in the forest and at the grave.
But it was more than that that held him. He knew
now what Katherine had heard across the court, heralding
each tragedy and mystery. He caught a formless
stirring. Yet on the bed there was no one.
Fortunately he had not gone there.

He tried to call out, realizing that the danger could
find him if it chose, but his throat was tight and
it permitted no response.